It's inevitable (and understandable) that tragedies such as "Mom shoots and kills two daughters" end up on the national news. But "Mom shoots intruder in daughter's bedroom" tends to be a local story. The result is that many folks have the impression that firearms are only rarely used for legitimate self-defense.

Regardless of your opinions on gun control, this lack of information is a Bad Thing. I think we can help to correct that.

I've seen other websites that compile lists of self-defense firearms incidents, but they've been flawed by including dubious incidents and incomplete information. I'd like to suggest the following rules for our list:

Get as close as you can to the original source: provide links to local newspaper articles, or even police reports. Don't quote secondhand info from a gun-related or conservative website.

List only incidents where someone was clearly an innocent victim acting in defense of self or others, and where there was a reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm. Omit feuds where both parties escalated the situation until one resorted to violence; omit gang members shooting each other; omit the guy who goes out to confront thieves and shoots them.

Don't post commentary, just the facts. We can start a separate thread (or several) for discussion.

Let's use a start date of 1/1/16 -- we don't want to give the impression that recent examples are hard to find.

One more request. I think this thread can be an opportunity to provide information to open-minded folks who honestly don't know why anyone wants or needs a gun. Let's not drive them off with tough talk and "Darwin awards" comments. There are many legitimate self-defense shootings that, nevertheless, are tragic -- the drunk or mentally ill person who barges into the wrong house by mistake, for example.

When a woman returned to her Portland, Ore., home with her two children over the weekend, she made a startling discovery in the residence, according to authorities.

She found a stranger ... in her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

The 33-year-old mother was armed, and she fatally shot the suspected intruder...

“Detectives have not been able to determine why McCrary broke into the victim’s home,” police said Monday.

The homeowner ... “has no connection to McCrary and he is not from the neighborhood,” police said. “McCrary has no significant criminal history but there was a recent report indicating that McCrary may have been struggling with mental health issues.”...

“Detectives determined that McCrary broke into Ford’s home through a back window,” police said. “Ford found McCrary in her 10-year-old daughter’s bedroom, where the shooting occurred.

“Both her daughter and 5-year-old son were in the home but were in a different bedroom at the time of the shooting.”...

LYMAN, SC (FOX Carolina) - Deputies with Spartanburg County said a man faces multiple attempted murder charges after opening fire outside a nightclub early Sunday morning.The shooting happened around 3:30 a.m. at Playoffz nightclub on Inman Road in Lyman.Deputies said 32-year-old Jody Ray Thompson pulled out a gun after getting into an argument with another man and fired several rounds toward a crowd that had gathered out in front of the club."His rounds struck 3 victims, and almost struck a fourth victim, who in self-defense, pulled his own weapon and fired, striking Thompson in the leg," Lt. Kevin Bobo said.Bobo said the man who shot Thompson has a valid concealed weapons permit, cooperated with investigators, and won’t be facing any charges. "Thompson was still on the scene when deputies arrived, but the initial scene was chaotic," Bobo said. "It wasn’t until victims and witnesses were interviewed, and video from the scene was reviewed that Thompson was identified as the suspect."

After 66-year-old woman furiously wrestles home invader, she grabs something that gave her the upper handBy Kathryn BlackhurstFebruary 27, 2016

A 66-year-old woman from Morgan County, Indiana, won a scuffle with a robber who entered her home on Wednesday afternoon after she reached for her handgun and scared him away.

Karen Long, 66, told local deputies that she was in her home with her sick 7-year-old nephew when she saw a masked man walking towards her front door, according to WXIN-TV. Acting quickly, Long lunged for her door in an attempt to lock it, but she was too late.

“He yanked it out of my hand and he bulldogged me in,” Long told WXIN. “He shoved me, I stumbled and fell there, and then he started down the hall. My little nephew is there and that’s when I attacked him. I jumped on his back, he and I went down to the floor again.”

As the struggle ensued between Long and the robber, she said that she never backed down and refused to let her age get in the way.

“I am 66, a lot of people consider that elderly but that’s the new 40,” Long said, WXIN reported. “I don’t believe in being a victim.”

While Long and the man wrestled on the floor, she said that she could hear her nephew crying.

“[The robber] kept saying ‘Don’t look at me, don’t look at me. Just give me your money and don’t look at me and you won’t get hurt,’” Long said.

When the masked man attempted to tie her to a table, Long knew she needed to do something more to protect her home, her nephew and herself from the intruder.

That’s when she remembered her handgun.

“I had my gun up there and I reached for it and he heard me rack it,” Long told WXIN. “I was saying a few choice words at him, let me tell you. I did tell him, ‘you picked the wrong house buddy.’”

The robber took off seconds after she grabbed her gun. Although she sustained some bruising, Long told WXIN that she and her nephew are both fine, adding that she had one final message for the robber.

“They come back to this house they will not walk away,” Long threatened.

Although the masked intruder made off with some small belongings, Long believes that with the help of her community and a $1,000 reward for any leads, the police will catch him and the robber will be brought to justice soon.

Pair of Punks Beating on a 65-Year-Old Man in Front of His Wife Get Unanticipated, Painful Dose of Justiceby Dave UrbanskiMarch 2, 2016

A 65-year-old man was walking with his wife on a Philadelphia street just after 8:30 p.m. Tuesday when they were approached by two men, 21 and 20, and an argument ensued.

The two younger men allegedly began beating the 65-year-old man while his wife watched. “They were punching him and caused bruising to his face,” Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told WPVI-TV.

But the attack apparently didn’t last long.

It turns out the victim has a concealed carry license and put it to use, pulling out his .45 caliber pistol and shooting his two assailants, investigators told WCAU-TV.

The 21-year-old was hit once in the neck, and the 20-year-old was hit in the stomach, WCAU said, adding that one is in stable condition while the other is in serious condition.

Police told WCAU the district attorney’s office will determine whether or not the shooting in the Queen Village section of the city was in self-defense.

The 65-year-old man was also taken to the hospital for treatment. His wife was not hurt.

A poorly-parented child who should have been in bed getting rested for school was instead out with a bunch of other thugs, and decided to attempt to carjack a woman and her boyfriend.

He got an education in ballistics and trauma care instead.

An attempted 13-year-old carjacker has been hospitalized after one of the victims took matters into his own hands.

“The light, flashing light through the window, I went out, and I saw six, seven police cars and a guy lying in the street,” said Eduardo Fernandez.

Fernandez was a witness to the aftermath of, what North Miami Beach Police called a thwarted carjacking attempt at the intersection of Northeast 159th Street and 16th Avenue.

One of four suspects, a 13-year-old, approached the Honda Civic. The woman behind the wheel yelled to her passenger that the suspect had a firearm. “At that time, the passenger drew his firearm and shot two times,” said Detective Cora Mann of the North Miami Beach Police Department. “He was afraid for his life. He was protecting himself and his girlfriend.”

The 13-year-old was rushed to Ryder Trauma Center in stable but serious condition. The other three suspects ran off. Neither of the two passengers in the Honda were injured.

The young punk learned the hard way that there’s no honor among thieves, as his compatriots left him bleeding in the street without a second thought to his condition. Like most criminals, they only cared about themselves.

The concealed carrier was able to save his girlfriend because he had a gun and knew how to use it.

I shudder to think what these four criminals were plotting when the advanced upon the female driver and attacked her.

Thankfully, they never got the chance because of a good guy with a gun.

Following his February 10 use of a concealed carry handgun to stop a stabbing at the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, Didarul Sarder is scheduled to receive “an honor for heroism from Warren Mayor Jim Fouts.”

Breitbart News previously reported that Sarder, a valet supervisor, said he was fired for having the gun with him, although using it allowed him to save the life of 52-year-old stabbing victim Stephanie Kerr.

Fox 2 that Sarder intervened after seeing one woman repeatedly stabbing Kerr in the neck and abdomen outside the tech center. The suspect in the stabbing is “a 32-year-old woman,” and police say the suspect and Kerr “argued in the lobby, then went outside where the suspect pulled a knife, stabbing [Kerr] multiple times in the neck, back and abdomen.” Sarder pulled his gun and ordered the attacker to stop.

He said, “[Kerr] kept saying ‘I’m dying, someone help’ and it was just natural reaction. I just see this lady getting stabbed. I only had like half a second to think, and I un-holstered my firearm and pointed it at her to drop the knife.”

So MLive reports that Sarder was indeed fired for “using a legally concealed firearm in violation of company policy” but “later rehired.” He is now in line for an award. Mayor Fouts said he believes Sarder “should have been rewarded” instead of fired to begin with, and he plans to show the video of Sarder intervening to save Kerr’s life as part of the heroism award presentation.

[/size]A man shot and wounded an intruder at a Summerlin home early this morning, according to Metro Police.A man broke into a home about 5:30 a.m. in the 10600 block of Refectory Avenue, near Desert Inn Road and Town Center Drive, police said. A resident shot and wounded the intruder, who ran outside the house, according to police.Police said they took the wounded man into custody. He was taken to University Medical Center with nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.